Rewari, March 30
The suicide note left behind by a newlywed woman, Pooja Chaudhary, who reportedly committed suicide by jumping into a well in Dhani Kumbhawali village, near Nangal Chaudhary, yesterday, has apparently cast aspersions on the police action earlier taken against her husband Virender Yadav on March 25. Pooja Chaudhary was pregnant, according to her in-laws.

The CIA staff, Narnaul, conducted a raid on March 25 in which 10 kg of poppy husk was reportedly seized from Virender Yadav’s residence in Dhani Kumbhawali village following which a case under the NDPS Act was registered and Virender Yadav was sent behind the bars.

Interestingly, the raid was conducted only after the police security, earlier provided to the couple on a directive of the high court in December, 2008, was withdrawn by the Narnaul SP recently.

The suicide note left by Pooja reportedly stated that her husband had been falsely implicated in the above case and she was now ending her life (owing to such police persecution).

Her father-in-law Jagdish Yadav and brother-in-law Jaipal Yadav (elder brother of her husband) also alleged that Virender Yadav had been framed in a false case. Meanwhile, Jagwant Singh Lamba, Narnaul SP, has deputed Randhir Singh, DSP, Mahendragarh, to conduct a probe into the matter.

Virender Yadav, a college student in Narnaul, lived as a tenant in the house of Pooja’s father Rohtash Maan in Mohalla Misharwara in Narnaul. Virender developed intimacy with Pooja following which they tied the nuptial knot at the high court in Chandigarh in December 2008.

Acting on their petition, the high court then issued a directive following which the couple was provided police security by the Narnaul district police.

Sources said being a Jat by caste, Rohtash Maan was averse to his daughter Pooja’s marriage with Virender Yadav, an Ahir by caste.

A Narnaul court granted parole to Pooja’s husband, who left under heavy police protection for Dhani Kumbhawali to perform her funeral rites. Meanwhile, Pooja’s brother-in-law Jaipal Yadav today filed a petition in the high court in Chandigarh seeking a CBI probe into the “false” implication of Yadav in the case.

Sirsa, March 30
Government doctors, who have not been maintaining their headquarters and have been commuting daily to reach their places of duty, will face the ire of the government now.

The erring doctors shall lose claim to salaries, the house rent allowance and the rural health allowance unless they maintain their headquarters and the onus will lie on the Civil Surgeon concerned to ensure this.

Civil surgeons failing to check it will be held personally liable and will invite disciplinary action from the government.

Interestingly, some civil surgeons in the state themselves have not been maintaining the headquarters and it becomes difficult for them to check the irregularities of their juniors under these circumstances.

Anuradha Gupta, Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary, Health, has taken a serious notice of doctors not maintaining their headquarters.

“It has come to notice that there are instances of doctors not maintaining their headquarters. Such doctors do not stay at the place where they are posted and falsely claim the house rent allowance and the rural allowance. On account of non-availability of doctors, primary health centres and community health centres get locked after the OPD hours, depriving the general public of the much-needed health services,” says a recent letter of Anuradha Gupta dispatched to all civil surgeons of Haryana.

She has said in the letter that a substantial hike in the salary has been given to doctors by the state government as a special case on the grounds that they are rendering services in rural areas.

“The pay panel has specifically laid emphasis on greater accountability and performance on the part of doctors. It is necessary that the mandate is fulfilled in letter and spirit,” she said in her communication to the civil surgeons.

The civil surgeons have been asked to take immediate steps to ensure that all doctors working under their control were immediately advised to stay at the place of posting and maintain the headquarters.

The civil surgeons have also been asked to authorise the payment of salaries, the HRA and the rural allowance only after the condition of maintaining the headquarters is fulfilled, failing which action would be initiated against them.

The civil surgeons have also been directed to send a report to the Director-General of Health Services, Haryana, by the 10th of every month in this regard and non-maintenance of the headquarters by doctors working under them must be reported without delay.

Fatehabad, March 30
Newly recruited specialist doctors have decried the policy of the state government with regard to their appointment and posting.

Several specialist doctors told The Tribune in the condition of anonymity that providing better scales and advance increments were not enough to attract the specialist doctors towards the government jobs and some more steps were also needed to retain them.

“Recently, the state government appointed around 535 specialist doctors in various district hospitals. But less than 10 per cent have joined,” said a doctor on the condition of anonymity.

“The reason behind these specialist doctors avoiding joining the government services or leaving early is low salaries only. But there are several other factors that prompt them resign from the government jobs and join corporate hospitals,” he said.

“Specialist doctors are being recruited and posted at various hospitals so that they can give the best possible treatment to the patients. But once in the hospital, they are made to do mainly the causality duties,” said another specialist doctor.

The doctors rue that specialist doctors were being made to do eight hours duty by rotation in the causality, where they do medico legal cases and postmortems, which are not their specialised fields.

While they work in causalities, their specialised work is hindered much to the detriment of patients.

Specialist doctors suggest the government should create posts of causality medical officers, who could look after the work in a specialised manner.

They say that postmortem and the medico legal reports are also specialised fields to be performed by those qualified in the forensic medicine and by giving this work to other, the government is not only putting specialist doctors in “unwanted jobs” but also doing injustice to litigants, who are not able to get proper reports for want of specialisation of the doctors performing postmortems and writing medico legal reports.

Gurgaon, March 30
With the Lok Sabha elections around the corner, campaigning by various parties has gained momentum. The BSP is conducting village-to-village tours in the Gurgaon parliamentary constituency to mobilise strength for the “satta parivartan rally” scheduled for April 6. BSP candidate Ch Zakir Hussain made a tour of more then a dozen villages in the Sohna region and made an appeal to villagers to attend the rally in large numbers. He said all governments of the state had ditched southern Haryana of which Mewat and Ahirwal were a major part and added that cutting across the caste or the community lines that people of all communities residing in southern Haryana had suffered immensely. Hussain claimed that only the BSP government could do for the welfare of this region.

He retreated that the district accounted for more then 45 per cent of revenue of the state but lacked in basic facilities. He claimed that every Chief Minister had developed the region to which he belongs and no one had bothered to look after the interests of people of this region. He said major problems of this region were railway line and canal water, which would be sorted out the day the BSP came to power in Centre.

HJC candidate Rao Narbir Singh is also organising his programmes in similar way. He is getting good response in the Ahirwal region and the Gurgaon region and is trying his best to get some support from the Mewat region that uptill now has been stronghold of the Hussain family. The entire picture would be apparent when the Congress finalises its candidate, as it is not clear whether it would field an Ahir or Jat or a Punjabi candidate.

On the other hand, state election in charge of the BJP Harjit Singh Grewal has said that their party has a strong leadership and due to this party will come in power. He affirmed that if NDA candidate Sudha Yadav reached Parliament, she would get a chance to take up the problems of the district there. Grewal said the party did everything after discussing with INLD chief Om Prakash Chautala.

Rohtak, March 30
HJC leader and former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal started his poll campaign in the state here today.

He visited a few places in the town to seek support for Krishan Murti Hooda, HJC nominee from Rohtak.

Bhajan Lal spent about 30 minutes at each spot he visited. Earlier, addressing a gathering at Gandhi Camp here, Hooda criticised the Chief Minister and the present Lok Sabha member from Rohtak, claiming that the constituency had been discriminated against in the matter of development. Besides, the grievances of the common man went unheard, he said, adding that it was time people voted for a change.

Subhash Batra, a former minister, raised the matter of alleged discrimination against the Punjabi community in the state under the present regime.

He claimed that it was only in Bhajan Lal’s tenure that the interests of this particular community were safe.

Meanwhile, local Congress MP Deepender Singh Hooda, while addressing a public meeting here last evening, claimed that the forthcoming polls were a contest between “forces of development and the destruction.” He said while the Congress symbolised development, the opposition parties were a sign of regression.

The MP castigated the opposition parties for their alleged sectarian, divisive and anti-people policies.

Chandigarh, March 30
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today termed the INLD-BJP alliance as an opportunistic tie-up for selfish political interests and said it was limited only up to the completion of the elections. “This alliance will end in the same way as had ended in the past,” he commented.

In a press note issued here, Hooda claimed that the alliance candidates would stand nowhere against the Congress candidates and the Congress would win all 10 seats in the state.

The people of the state had not only experienced peaceful development and welfare schemes of the present Congress government, but had also not forgotten the misrule and dictatorship of the INLD rule.

He claimed that the state government had fulfilled not only all promises made to the people before the last Assembly elections, but also those which were not even made by the Congress.

Claiming that the future of the country was safe in the hands of the Congress, Hooda said the public would teach a lesson to those leaders who were fomenting communal and castes sentiments for selfish political gains.

Chandigarh, March 30
The Punjab and Haryana High Court today made it clear the land released from the acquisition process to private builders may have to be restored to the state if the action is found to be vitiated by fraud.

The high court has all along been asserting that it is, prima facie, of the view that the builders enter into deals with farmers after the initiation of the acquisition process, as the land prices shoot up. They then manage to get valuable land released from the process.

Taking up a petition filed by Rajyoga Education and Research Foundation, the Bench of Justice Adrash Kumar Goel and Justice Jitendra Chauhan said: “In case it is held that the release of land in favour of the private partners was vitiated by fraud, the land may have to be restored to the state to be used for public purpose or otherwise.

“The builders may at best be entitled to compensation on the date of notification under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act. Such an order may have to be passed not only to undo illegality, but also to reverse heavy losses to the public exchequer in the form of difference of market value prior to the acquisition - that is on the date of notification under Section 4 - and the market value of acquired land on the date of release in favour of the builders”.

The Bench asserted: If the land vests in the state on paying compensation, its disposal by the state according to the known procedure for changed commercial/urban use is bound to fetch much higher price than compensation, which the state is required to pay”

The Bench also held the “purpose of helping builders to purchase land by issuing notification for acquisition cannot be equated to public purpose”.

The observations were made after it came to the Bench’s notice that notification under Section 6 of the Act was issued for 648.08 acres in Sonepat district, but the award was passed for only 155.25 acre.

Gurgaon, March 30
Private schools in Gurgaon will not force parents to pay the hiked fee for the next month. They will first try to convince the parents about the reasons behind the proposed hike by showing their receipts and expenditure. Those willing can pay the hiked fee, which would be adjusted after the final decision on the issue, but others will pay the fee as per the previous fee structure.

The decision was taken today in a meeting organised under the chairmanship of SDM of Gurgaon (North) Shakti Singh, which was attended by principals of private schools and representatives of the Millennium Parents Association.

The meeting was organised on the directions of deputy commissioner Deepti Umashankar to amicably resolve the fee hike issue by calling both the parties. The parents association had recently staged a protest against the fee hike in the name of implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission’s recommendations in private schools.

The SDM, first of all, read out the objections of parents association as given by them in a representation to the deputy commissioner. He was of the view that it was a case of mistrust between the school management and parents generated through lack of transparency, and said that in the time of economic recession, parents were not in a position to afford heavy fee hike but at the same time, the school management has to implement the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission.

Singh stated that in a situation like this, the school management should share the burden instead of passing it entirely on to the parents.

For generating faith in the parents, the school management should show their balance sheet to the parents-teachers association and try to convince the parents about the reasons behind the fee hike. He felt that the parents were ready to pay reasonable amount but not the exorbitant one.

The SDM clarified that it was mandatory for the school management to submit filled in form-6 of the Haryana Education Code in the office of district education officer by January every year, which contains the details of receipts and expenditures of the school.

On being asked as to how many schools had submitted this form by the scheduled time, the answer was none. However, about 50 per cent of the school management representatives claimed that they had submitted the form, but late. Similarly, about 50 per cent of schools had not submitted their audit reports of the previous financial year. The SDM asked the private school managements to adhere to the rules.

He also asked the school management to publicly display form-6 on their notice-board for the sake of parents and suggested that an open debate can be held in the school on the issue of fee hike. This way the objections of the parents could also be entertained, he added.

Karnal, March 30
With the Lok Sabha polls around the corner, the issue of setting up a medical college in astronaut Kalpana Chawla’s name in Karnal has resurfaced.

Anguished over the “indifferent attitude” of the BJP-INLD alliance and the Congress government on the issue, the Kalpana Chawla Yadgar Samiti has threatened to resort to “rail roko” at the Karnal station tomorrow.

President of the samiti Tarlochan Singh said the Congress government had played with the sentiments of the people of Karnal and added insult to injury by establishing a medical college at Jhajjar, which was close to Delhi and just 25 km away from the Rohtak medical college.

After the tragic death of astronaut Kalpana Chawla, INLD supremo and then Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala and Union Minister of State for Home Affairs ID Swami had publicly announced at a condolence meeting on March 9, 2003, that a befitting memorial would be raised to her by setting up a medical college in her name, he added.

He said the present MP, Arvind Sharma, and a number of MLAs had promised to set up a medical college in her name during the elections, but these announcements never translated into action.

The samiti alleged that it was a glaring example of discrimination against Karnal and all development activities were concentrated in Rohtak.

The samiti had resorted to a “rail roko” against the then Vajpayee government on March 2, 2004, but the NDA government was ousted in the elections that followed.

Tarlochan Singh said people were agitated over the issue as the Deputy Commissioner had not responded to the memorandum submitted to him on March 1, 2009, in spite of his assurance to settle the issue by the month-end.

Gurgaon, March 30
A person travelling in a BMW fired into the air near the Sector 55-56 chowk here today. According to eyewitness, three persons - Nitin Jain, a class XII student, GD Goenka School, along with his PSO Anil and the driver - were travelling in the BMW. They were returning to home. Nitin was in a hurry as he had to complete some project.

When they found an Indica car in front of their car, they asked for a pass, but when they could not get it, Anil started firing into the air and shot three times. Passersby informed the police.

DCP Jagdish Nagar said they had arrested the three on the Faridabad road.

According to sources, Nitin is a son of an industrialist in Faridabad.

Panipat, March 30
Passengers on board 1-DP train from Delhi to Panipat today faced a peculiar situation when they found that their train was being deliberately delayed as the guard was dating his beloved in his cabin.

The incident took place at the Dewana railway station where the train arrived at 8:11 am, but did not move from there till 8: 55 am even after a green signal had been given.

Some passengers, who noticed that despite the green signal the train was not moving, brought the matter into driver’s notice. He told these passengers that the train was not moving because the guard had not pressed the buzzer, which was a must as per the rules before any train leaves a station. The passengers then went to the cabin and found that he was dating his beloved there.

The passengers got furious as they caught the guard. They asked the guard to give them the complaint register. However, the guard refused to hand over the register, on which the passengers abused him. They then approached the stationmaster and filed a complaint against him.

It was learnt that the 1-DP train was scheduled to reach Panipat at 8:40 am. However, it was running late each day for the past one month. Ajit Jeeta, a regular commuter on the train, said for the past one month the train inevitably halted at the Dewana railway station for at least 30 to 45 minutes.

Rakesh Verma, another daily commuter on the train, said the passengers used to think that the train halted here to give pass to other trains, but it came as a shock that it was being delayed because the guard was dating his beloved at this station.

It was learnt that the railway authorities had to halt the Shatabdi Express for a couple of minutes ahead of the Dewana railway station as 1-DP stood there blocking its way. Green signal had been given for the 1-DP, which was not moving and thus a pass could not be given to the Shatabdi Express, said a railway official. He said the authorities gave a red signal to the 1-DP and allowed the express train to pass first.

Meanwhile, the passengers expressed shock over the incident and demanded that strict action should be taken against the guard. The driver of the train also filed a written complaint against the guard elaborating his misdoing.

The railways authorities assured the passengers that a strict action would be taken against the lax guard and it would be ensured that they did not have to face any such delays in future.

Kurukshetra, March 30
Members from the Kurukshetra University Court were declared elected to the university executive council and the university academic council as per the decision of the Haryana Federation of University and College Teachers’ Organisation (HFUCTO), held here today.

HFUCTO working president and Kurukshetra University Teachers’ Association (KUTA) president Prof NS Kaushal said Dr Ravinder Gasso, lecturer, DAV College, Pundari, had been elected unanimously to the university executive council, while Dr Sanjay Kumar of Dayal Singh Colllege, Karnal, Dr Krishan Gopal of Government College, Adampur, and Viay Sabharwal of Kurukshetra had been elected unanimously to the academic council of the university.

Prof Kaushal further demanded that an amendment must be introduced in the statue of the university for accommodating three more members in the executive council, one each from the university-maintained colleges, government colleges and from the academic council so that there could be broader representation from the teaching community. He also demanded the representation of various teachers’ organisations in different academic committees of the university as this would further help in democratic functioning of the university.

He further pointed out that there was a strong resentment against the university authorities among the university teachers on being put to election duties even while they were performing various examination duties.

Jind, March 30
An amount Rs 73.02 lakh sent by the Department of Urban Local Bodies of the State Government to the Municipal Committee of Julana town in the district have gone missing from the office of the civic body in the district. The money had been received here through two drafts and a cheque on March 26.

The officials concerned today lodged a FIR to trace the money after they failed to find the cheques at the place where these had reportedly been put by the official concerned. While no one has been named as an accused it is suspected that some one from the office had been involved in this incident which is claimed to be first of its kind in the history of the civic body. According to information, while one of the draft had been valued just around Rs 45 lakh, two other such documents that had been missing had been worth Rs 17 and about 11.02 lakh. These had been meant for development projects in various wards of Julana town. The highest amount cheque had been meant for 4, 6 and 13 wards of the civic body, respectively, it is stated. No arrest has been made so far in this regard.

New Delhi, March 30
SC Sinha, an IPS officer of 1975 batch of the Haryana cadre, today took over as Additional Director in the Central Bureau of Investigation.

Before joining the CBI, he was Director-General in the state Vigilance Bureau, Haryana. Sinha has earlier held several important positions in the CBI from 1985 to 1990 and from 2002 to 2007, including the post of Joint Director (Economic Offence Wing) and SP.

Sonepat, March 30
As many as 36 persons were injured, seven of them seriously, when a Haryana Roadways’ bus overturned after it was hit by a truck at the Kharkhoda bypass turning this morning.

Rameshawar, Sanjay, Surinder, Ram Kishan, Jai Kishan, Ramesh and Naresh, who were seriously injured, have been referred to the PGIMS, Rohtak.

The police has impounded the truck and the truck driver has been taken into custody after registering a case at the Kharkhoda police station.

The bus was on the way to Delhi from Polangi village while the truck, loaded with concrete, was going from Sonepat towards Kharkhoda.

Kolkata, March 30
The body of a youth from Faridabad, Dwibed Singh, who had slipped into the lake at Mukutmonipore in Bankura yesterday, was recovered from a lake in Kolkata today.

It was reported that Dwibed jumped into the lake for rescuing his inmate, who was drowned while swimming there on Sunday.

The boy rescued his friend but he could not save himself. Dwibed, a final-year engineering student in electronics and communication at the NIT, Durgapur, went for a picnic at the Mukutmoni lake, along with other students, yesterday.